Congress Should Wake Up We Have a Jobs Crisis Not a Debt Crisis

July 31, 2011

Robert Borosage

Get out the togas; Congress is fiddling while Rome burns.

As the grim economic numbers show, this economy is barely moving, crippled by government cutbacks that once more cost jobs. 25 million people are in need of full time work, a number that is growing as the economy is failing to generate enough jobs even to employ those coming into the labor market for the first time.

And while this is happening, conservatives in Washington are intent on exacting even more cruelty on the vulnerable. It is simply beyond shame that Tea Party Republicans suggest that the Boehner plan isn’t harsh enough, demanding that deep cuts in Pell Grants that allow deserving low income children a chance to afford college. The notion that Pell grants that help low income kids go to college is a way to sweeten legislation to make it more attractive to right wing extremists is unspeakable. The Tea Party right in Congress offends not only the majority of Americans, but the majority of their own supporters.

Every plan before Congress will make the economy worse. Every plan tramples the priorities of the vast majorities of Americans.

This week, hundreds of Americans crowded into, phoned or emailed Congressional offices at home and in Washington to make their displeasure known. We need to keep the pressure on and continue to demand that Congress listen to the vast majority of Americans, who want Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid protected, and millionaires and billionaires and corporations to pay their fair share.

We will continue to build a movement to defend an American dream that is increasingly being shattered by corrupted policy and perverted values.

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About Robert Borosage

Robert L. Borosage is the founder and president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future. The organizations were launched by 100 prominent Americans to develop the policies, message and issue campaigns to help forge an enduring majority for progressive change in America.
Mr. Borosage writes widely on political, economic and national security issues. He is a Contributing Editor at The Nation magazine, and a regular blogger at The Huffington Post. His articles have appeared in The American Prospect, The Washington Post,Tthe New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He edits the Campaign’s Making Sense issues guides, and is co-editor of Taking Back America (with Katrina Vanden Heuvel) and The Next Agenda (with Roger Hickey).